MAGGIE MARWAN

HALIFAX - Goin' down the road - with a government-bought plane ticket.

In a '90s twist to the time-honored tradition of Maritimers heading west to look for work, the federal Human Resources Department

is launching a project that will see 15 people from Cape Brteton fly to London, Ont., on a job search.

The Department, with a project budget of about $44,000, will pay for preparation, plane tickets, meals and hotel for two weeks in the central Ontario city - where the unemployment rate is about 17 percentage points lower than Cape Breton's.

"I hear that's pretty well the best spot to go when you first go to Ontario." said Troy Cann. one of the 15 who plan to be pounding the London pavement in two weeks. 'I'm pretty hopeful I'll find something." I

Cann, 23, of Bras D'Or, hasn't worked in 37 weeks or receiving unemployment insurance benefits. Trained in carpentry and cabinet-making, it's been even longer since he thought in terms of long-term, full-time work

"I was going from job to job - that's kind of routine around here.

"I've never wanted to leave my home, but sometimes you've got to make that decision."

It's that now-or-never feeling [or it chance to build a secure future that motivates the participants, said Alice Almond, the manager of the human resources office in North Sydney who dreamt up and developed the project.

There is a segment of the unemployed in Cape Breton - where the jobless rate routinely hits 23 per cent - that is able and willing to re-

locate for work. But they lack the resources or know-how to- go about it.

"We were not promoting people leaving Cape Breton," said Almond.

"We were merely presenting another option for people who are unemployed that there are possibilities in other areas - if you're interested"

At the London and, a human resources employee will help the 15 in the intensive search. It won't be a vacation for them, said Almond.

"My expectations of their commitment would be that they are prepared to work evenings and weekends while they're there. It's only a two-week period and it's a chance that could affect them for the rest of their life."

The 14 men and one woman selected for the program are in their 20s and early 30s, some single, others married. Seven are former fishery workers who have retrained under The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy, or TAGS: five are unemployment insurance recipients, and three who don't receive benefits but have recently taken a training program.

Among their members are two plumbers, a mechanic and recent computer graduates.

One recent Statistics Canada survey suggested that up to 25 per cent of fishermen and fish-plant workers made jobless by the collapse of the ground fishery would move to take a job.

Susan Dann of Human Resources in Halifax said she personally found that percentage higher than expected.

"I think that moving from your community for some people, who've lived there their whole lives, that's a very difficult decision."